Mid American Studio takes pride in providing our students with a group of teachers that are motivational, talented and dedicated. Our instructors come from various backgrounds, and each brings an exciting element to their classes due to their unique personal experiences in the dance field.

Miss Abbie – Director of Dance

Abbie Baublitz is a graduate of Alma College, finishing top of her class with a Bachelor of Arts in Dance. As a member of the Alma College Dance Company, she danced under  Rosely Conz, Ben Munisteri, and Kristen Bennett, and performed in two American College Dance Association concerts. Abbie was a two-year member of the Alma College Competitive Dance Team and won the NDA DIII Team Division Championship title in 2019 along with her teammates. Abbie has since danced for Third Coast Dance Company under the direction of Kristen Bennett and Lynn Bowman, and The Detroit Dance Company under the direction of Barbara Selinger.

She began her dance career at three years old, and has studied Scottish Highland dance, Cecchetti ballet and pointe, contemporary, modern, jazz, tap, hip hop, and Pompon. As a member of the DuHadway Dance Dimensions Elite Competitive Team, she was highly successful in the Michigan dance competition scene for eleven years. Over the years, she received multiple regional and national titles. In 2015, Abbie spent a semester traveling Europe while living in Macedonia and teaching Pre-Ballet Classes at the Bullfrogs Ballet School of Skopje. 

Abbie has been teaching ballet, pointe,  jazz, tap, contemporary/lyrical, hip hop, strength & technique, and rhythm & gymnastics, as well as choreographing competitive dance routines for the past six years. She is also a certified Vinyasa Yoga Instructor and loves taking Hot Yoga classes when she is not in the studio dancing!

Miss Lauren

Miss Lauren has been dancing for over 30 years, teaching for over 20 years and has trained and taught at dance studios all over Michigan. She graduated from Grand Valley State University with a Bachelor of Arts in Dance and was a member of the GVSU Dance Ensemble under the direction of Jefferson Baum, Calin Radulescu, and Lisa Catrett-Belrose. In her time at GVSU, she was additionally a member and captain of the Nationally ranked Laker Dance Team for 4 years.

After graduation, Miss Lauren had the opportunity to train in New York City and Los Angeles with some of the top names in dance at the time, including the most influential Sonya Tayeh and Suzi Taylor. Here she was also able to gain valuable audition experience to pass on to her students. Upon returning to Michigan, Miss Lauren was the studio director of a dance school for 8 years, where she coordinated all aspects of studio day to day and recital and community performances in the recreational and competitive program. She also coached students of all levels and ages to receive top scores and choreography awards at various regional dance competitions.

Miss Lauren enjoys teaching ballet, tap, jazz, lyrical, hip hop, contemporary, modern, acro dance, pom, and musical theatre. She is a Cecchetti Council of America Licentiate Member and has been coaching students culminating in successful examinations with commendations since 2010. She is also a certified Acrobatic Arts instructor able to train students from primary-level 6. Miss Lauren is so excited join the Mid American Studio team and help her students grow and thrive in the community here at the studio and beyond!

Miss Sam

Since 1991 Miss Sam has been training in ballet, pointe, partnering, jazz, tap, hip hop, musical theater, lyrical, voice, contemporary, choreography & pedagogy. She competed locally, performed at various local community events and trained and performed in the Disney Magic Music Days program in 2002 and 2004. Miss Sam went on to earn her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance on scholarship with departmental honors from Oakland University. She was honored to represent Oakland University by performing at the American College Dance Festival in 2008 and 2009. Miss Sam decided to further her education by earning her Masters in Performing Arts Administration from the University of Michigan-Flint where she was commissioned to choreograph their 2013 fall musical. 

Since 2006 Miss Sam has been teaching, choreographing and directing various styles and levels. She enjoys working with students ages two to adult in conservatory studios, competition programs, high schools and even at the collegiate level. Miss Sam continues to assist Absolute Dance of Midland, TX remotely and is excited to further her career by teaching, choreographing and working with Mid American Studio. 

Miss Rachel

Rachel Hibbard began dancing in Traverse City, MI when she was four years old, and has been trained in ballet, pointe, contemporary, jazz, hip hop, tap, and musical theatre. Rachel performed, traveled, and competed with Company Dance Traverse until she graduated high school. She attended Hope College where she was very active in the dance department and a member of the school’s dance company, H2. She performed and choreographed in several dance productions each year, was a member of the school’s hip hop performance group and choreographed for the Department of Theatre. Rachel was also a member of the Traverse City pre-professional musical theatre company, Miracle Productions, where she performed and assisted in choreography for several musical theatre productions. Rachel is passionate about emphasizing each dancer’s individual strengths and is excited to share her love for dance with her students!

Miss Martha

Originally from Farmington, MI, Martha began dancing at the age of 6 and quickly fell in love with dance and movement. She trained in many styles and attended Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp, where she was one of the youngest dancers chosen to dance with the International Ballet Ensemble. After her European tour, she began competing and was awarded many accolades including top 10, best choreography, best performance and more. She continued her dance education at Wayne State University, where she earned her BFA in dance and then moved to New York City to pursue dance professionally. While in New York, she danced for Holland America Cruise Lines, Ben Munisteri, Jan Van Dyke, CoreDance Contemporary, and more, while also pursuing acting and singing. She established SPARK Dance Forum, a networking and performance forum that ran biannual events for 6 seasons before she earned her MA in Performing Arts Administration from New York University.

Martha is also a fully certified Pilates and Fitness instructor with over 15 years experience. Her knowledge of anatomy and proper body mechanics are infused in her teaching to ensure students have safe and healthy movement practices inside and outside the studio.

Miss Lenore

Miss Lenore has been dancing for over 30 years and began teaching in 2011. In her career as a dance teacher, she has taught Jazz, Lyrical, Ballet, Tap, Hip-Hop, Argentine Tango, and Barre Fitness. She began her dance education at her mother’s studio, and then moved on to dance with another local studio for over 15 years and was also a member of its inaugural competition team for six years, winning numerous solo and group regional titles. Competition inspired her to expand her dance knowledge, and she has taken class from renowned dance masters such as Brian Friedman, Doug Caldwell, Joel Hall, Mia Michaels, Claudio Villagra, and Helena Fernandez. She then continued her dance education with another local dance studio in an excellent adult dance program for 10 years, where she began her student teaching journey and eventually taught classes of her own. It was during this time that she also began studying partner dance styles, primarily studying Argentine tango, in addition to Salsa and Bachata. She currently assists in the teaching of various Argentine Tango classes.

From 2017 on, Miss Lenore has continued to perform in various partner dance showcases, competitions, and festivals, performing Bachata Fusion and Argentine Tango. In 2019, she competed at both the Southern California Argentine Tango Championship and the International Argentine Tango Championship and World Cup, receiving numerous first place awards. She was also a member of the Detroit Tango Nuevo dance team from 2017-2020 and continues to perform and teach locally and abroad in addition to furthering her Argentine Tango training. Most recently, she has begun studying Kizomba. Since 2020, she has also performed annually as a back-up dancer with Jackie Paige of WWJ Newsradio 950 at the Celebrity Lip Sync Battle for charity, choreographing jazz routines that get the crowd on their feet, helping Jackie to earn first place at 2022’s event.

Miss Lenore also holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Communications with a minor in Marketing from the University of Michigan-Dearborn, a Master of Science degree in Integrated Marketing Communications from Eastern Michigan University, and a Certificate in Project Management from Cornell University. When she’s not dancing, Miss Lenore uses her marketing and communications skills at a large B2B company as well as helping local small businesses. She is married to her husband, Kevin, and they have a daughter, Evelyn, and a beagle mix, Rosie.

Miss Madeline

Miss Madeline is a dance teacher, choreographer, and performer holding a Bachelor of Arts in Dance and Business with a minor in Dance Pedagogy from Hope College. She currently teaches dance at studios in the Metro Detroit area and is a Pure Barre instructor. She is passionate about dance education and is the 2024 recipient of Hope College’s Florence Cavanaugh Dance Award, reflecting this love for teaching. Her choreography has been featured at the American College Dance Association Conference, Detroit Dance City Festival, and in Paris, France. Miss Madeline is looking forward to seeing more of her work come to life on stage at dance competitions and professional dance concerts in the upcoming season! She is a former Company Member of H2 Dance Company and StrikeTime Dance Theatre where she performed both live and on film and was a featured speaker in a children’s television episode. She began her professional performance journey as an Apprentice with Currents Dance Theatre in Grand Rapids and can’t wait to see what is next. She has also attended intensives from companies including Eisenhower Dance Detroit, Water Street Dance Milwaukee, and the Joffrey Ballet School. She has had the pleasure of working with and performing works by Sharon Wong, Heather Cornell, Matthew Farmer, Steven Iannacone, Jasmine Mejia, and William Crowley. She loves Arts Administration as well and has interned with Detroit Dance City Festival, Movement Reservoir Dance Company, and Currents Dance Theatre with a focus on Operations and Marketing. Miss Madeline is thankful for the support of her family and friends in helping her reach her goals and hopes to honor them through her artistic ventures.

Miss Becca

Rebecca started dancing when she was 4 years old and continued her training at Oakland University where she graduated with a BFA in dance performance and a BA in Psychology. There, she found her choreographic voice and was awarded the Outstanding Choreography Matilda Award.

Rebecca’s work has been shown at the American College Dance Association, the Midwest Regional Alternative Dance Festival, and Detroit Dance City Festival. In 2022 she was selected as an emerging choreographer at Eisenhower Dance Detroit’s NewDanceFest, where she created and presented work on the participants. In 2023, she was selected to create a work for Contexture Dance Detroit which premiered in August 2023. Her most recent work titled “There’s a hand…” was performed by Artlab J in June of this year. Rebecca performs professionally in the Detroit area and teaches and choreographs for all ages and styles. Throughout her work, she strives to develop her artistic and choreographic voice and inspire others to do the same.

Miss Katelin

Before joining Mid American, Katelin was a member of the Novi Color Guard for 4 years. She competed in numerous regional and state competitions with her team, won a plethora of awards, and got the opportunity to compete at Winterguard International her final year on the squad, as a Varsity team member! While colorguard will always hold a special place in her heart, she has always had an immense passion for dance since she was little, but it wasn’t until she was 15 that she got the opportunity to get in a studio and take class! She joined Mid American in July of 2020 and she’s loved it here ever since. While dancing here at Mid American, as an EDC member and a studio assistant, she also got the opportunity to further her training at various dance organizations in Michigan including the annual Oakland Dance Festival and the Michigan College Recruitment Combine under the directions of Carson Rowe and Sean Hoskins! She recently got PBT (progressing ballet technique) level 1 certified and got to dance in a mock music video directed and choreographed by Cedric Botello! Her plans for the future are to continue her dance training in New York under 2 Broadway companies in hopes of achieving her dream of becoming a Radio City Rockette!

Miss Kristen